Search

The effect of light intensity has been explored in relation to endocrine functions and reproduction in pigs, but effects on health and behaviour are scarcely documented. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of different light intensities on behaviour, health and growth of growing-finishing pigs. An experiment was conducted on a commercial farm equipped with light-emitting diode-based luminaires creating four light intensity treatments: low (45 lux), medium (198 lux), high (968 lux) and spatial gradient of intensity (from 71 lux to 330 lux). Per treatment, 112 pigs were studied in two batches of eight pens. Once every two weeks behaviours such as exploration, positive and negative social interactions, play and abnormal behaviours were observed. Health issues were assessed weekly and included biting lesions, skin lesions, leg and respiratory disorders. The average daily gain over the experiment was calculated and after slaughter carcasses were inspected. Generalised linear mixed models were used for the analysis of behaviours, binary health scores, carcass abnormalities, ordinal logistic regression for multilevel health scores, and linear mixed models for average daily gain. Interactions between intensity and week were found for some behaviours (i.e., exploration, negative social interactions and abnormal behaviour) and health issues (i.e., tear stains, conjunctivitis, body lesions, bursitis and tail lesions). However, none of the treatments consistently outperformed another one. Light treatments did not affect pig growth and carcass abnormalities. These variable results support studies suggesting that pigs are adaptable to light intensities, and inconsistencies over weeks might have been caused by environmental factors that could not be controlled in a commercial farm setting. To conclude, tested light intensities had no clear effects on pig behaviour, health and growth., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Temporal phenotyping of patient journeys, which capture the common sequence patterns of interventions in the treatment of a specific condition, is useful to support understanding of antimicrobial usage in veterinary patients. Identifying and describing these phenotypes can inform antimicrobial stewardship programs designed to fight antimicrobial resistance, a major health crisis affecting both humans and animals, in which veterinarians have an important role to play., Objective: This research proposes a framework for extracting temporal phenotypes of patient journeys from clinical practice data through the application of natural language processing (NLP) and unsupervised machine learning (ML) techniques, using cat bite abscesses as a model condition. By constructing temporal phenotypes from key events, the relationship between antimicrobial administration and surgical interventions can be described, and similar treatment patterns can be grouped together to describe outcomes associated with specific antimicrobial selection., Methods: Cases identified as having a cat bite abscess as a diagnosis were extracted from VetCompass Australia, a database of veterinary clinical records. A classifier was trained and used to label the most clinically relevant event features in each record as chosen by a group of veterinarians. The labeled records were processed into coded character strings, where each letter represents a summary of specific types of treatments performed at a given visit. The sequences of letters representing the cases were clustered based on weighted Levenshtein edit distances with KMeans+ + to identify the main variations of the patient treatment journeys, including the antimicrobials used and their duration of administration., Results: A total of 13,744 records that met the selection criteria was extracted and grouped into 8436 cases. There were 9 clinically distinct event sequence patterns (temporal phenotypes) of patient journeys identified, representing the main sequences in which surgery and antimicrobial interventions are performed. Patients receiving amoxicillin and surgery had the shortest duration of antimicrobial administration (median of 3.4 days) and patients receiving cefovecin with no surgical intervention had the longest antimicrobial treatment duration (median of 27 days)., Conclusion: Our study demonstrates methods to extract and provide an overview of temporal phenotypes of patient journeys, which can be applied to text-based clinical records for multiple species or clinical conditions. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach to derive real-world evidence of treatment impacts using cat bite abscesses as a model condition to describe patterns of antimicrobial therapy prescriptions and their outcomes., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Published by Elsevier B.V.)

The attainment of the global target of zero dog-mediated human rabies by 2030 depends on functional rabies programmes. Nigeria, a rabies-endemic country, and the most populous country in Africa has a very poor rabies control strategy with a score of 1.5 out of 5 based on the Stepwise Approach towards Rabies Elimination (SARE). In this article, we report a scoping review that we conducted to highlight the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats as well as situational analysis of rabies control in Nigeria and suggest a timeline for key activities that are needed to ensure zero by 30. Our findings reveal that rabies is grossly under-reported as only 998 human and 273 dog-suspected rabies cases were reported across Nigeria between 2017 and 2022. Our literature review also demonstrates a paucity of information on rabies in both human and animal health sectors. A total of 49 studies on dog rabies in Nigeria, with a predominance of reports from the North Central geopolitical region (48%, n = 23) were therefore included in this study. Currently, only 16.2% (n = 6/37) of Nigerian states have available data related to the estimated dog populations, the dog ownership rates, the vaccination status of dogs or the incidence of dog bites. Based on a dog-to-human ratio of 1:16.3, we estimated that the dog population in Nigeria was 12,969,368 (95% CI: 12,320,900-13,617,836). Thus, to attain herd immunity and dog rabies control in Nigeria, at least 9.1 million dogs must be vaccinated annually. Our review reveals that, despite the strengths and available opportunities to achieve rabies control in Nigeria by 2030, the weaknesses and challenges will make the attainment of zero by 30 very difficult or impossible. Nigeria's best-case scenario by the year 2030 is SARE stage 3-4 (control-elimination) out of 5. Otherwise, the rabies control programme might not surpass SARE stages 2-3. To attain zero by 30, Nigeria must re-strategize its current rabies control programme by funding and implementing the national strategic plan for rabies control, creating a rabies desk office in the 37 states (FCT inclusive), rigorously conducting mass vaccination campaigns, providing post-exposure prophylaxis, prioritizing mass enlightenment with a focus on responsible pet ownership and conduct baseline national rabies surveillance in the animal and human health sectors., (© 2023 The Authors. Zoonoses and Public Health published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Objective: Knowledge of the spatial pattern of animal bites can be helpful for targeted resource allocation and to develop and deliver effective intervention programs. The aim of this study was to explore the spatial pattern of the animal bites in Iran during 2021-2022., Methods: Animal bite cases from all provinces and counties in Iran were obtained from a nationally based registry. Global Moran's I was applied to check spatial autocorrelation. The spatially adjusted standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) were estimated using the Besag, York, and Mollie (BYM) model. Spatial clusters were identified by local indicators of spatial association (LISA) and purely spatial scan statistic., Results: A total of 260,470 animal bites were registered during the study period. There was a positive spatial autocorrelation (global Moran's I=0.27, p-value=0.001). The majority of SIRs greater than 1.00 was found in counties in the northern belt of Iran (e.g., observed greater than expected animal bites). LISA found that approximately 7% of counties in the north and northeast, 18% in the west and south, and 3% in the central part of Iran were significant hot spots, cold spots, and spatial outliers (p-value≤0.05). Spatial scan statistic detected primary hot spot cluster in the counties in the Mazandaran and Alborz provinces (Relative Risk=2.56, p-value<0.001), while primary cold spot cluster involved counties in Kurdistan and Kermanshah province (0.37, <0.001)., Conclusion: Animal bites were unevenly distributed in Iran. Further prevention and control programs as well as appropriately resource allocation are needed in order to reduce the observed animal bites spatial disparity., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest No COI., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To characterize animal-related injuries in veterinary medical center staff at a veterinary medical center., Sample: 706 hospital staff injuries., Methods: Deidentified injury reports were submitted to Human Resources from 2008 through 2022. Injury data collected included the injury description, date of injury, occupation, and worker's compensation claim information. Data were summarized by year, cause of injury, total cost associated with injury, and occupation., Results: There was an increase in injuries reported in recent years when compared to past years, with the plurality of injuries being bite injuries, specifically occurring on the hand, finger, and wrist area. Bite injuries had a higher average total worker's compensation cost paid to staff than striking injuries. There were more injuries reported by staff who had less experience working with animals. More injuries occurred during the summer months (June through September). There was not an unusual trend in the reporting of injuries due to COVID-19. Other injuries (eg, needlesticks and falls) were reported from only 2019 to 2022, but constituted a substantial burden for staff., Clinical Relevance: These findings can help stakeholders at teaching hospitals and veterinary clinics to take steps toward creating a safer workplace environment for employees. It is important to identify work hazards and provide proper training and prevention methods to reduce the risk of injuries, especially among less experienced employees. Proper prevention methods will help reduce worker's compensation costs for the teaching hospital and reduce the number of workdays missed by staff.

Porcine ear necrosis (PEN) is characterized by ulcerative lesions of the ear auricle. To investigate that problem, three farms with PEN in nursery pigs were included, and the study aim was to characterize PEN and the potential role of pathogens and mycotoxins. Within each farm, one batch of weaned piglets was included and the prevalence and severity of PEN were monitored for 6-7 weeks. Within each batch, 30 PEN-affected/non-affected animals were randomly selected. Blood samples were taken from these animals, to assess the systemic presence of pathogens and mycotoxins, as well as punch biopsies from the ear auricle for histopathological examination. From 10 animals, scrapings and swabs from the lesions were subjected to nanopore metagenomic sequencing and bacteriological cultivation, respectively. In all three farms, lesions appeared within 3-4 weeks post-weaning. The prevalence at the end of the nursery was 33%, 24%, and 46% for farms A, B, and C, respectively. Most affected pigs had mild to moderate lesions. Blood samples revealed low to very low levels of pathogens and mycotoxins. Different bacteria such as Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Fusobacterium, Mycoplasma, and Clostridium species were identified by sequencing in the scrapings. The first two pathogens were also most often identified in bacterial cultures. Mycoplasma hyopharyngis was only found in PEN-affected pigs. Histopathological changes were primarily observed in the outer layer of the epidermis. The results suggest that PEN lesions develop by damage to the outer part of the skin e.g. by ear suckling or biting, followed by multiplication of opportunistic pathogens., (© 2023. L’Institut National de Recherche en Agriculture, Alimentation et Environnement (INRAE).)

Rabies is a zoonotic disease caused by rabies virus of the genus Lyssa virus and family Rhabdoviridae. It affects all mammals and is prevalent throughout the world and endemic in many countries except in Islands like Australia and Antarctica. It is highly fatal, but preventable. Disease causes threat to public health because rabid dogs bite humans, resulting in thousands of deaths every year. Around 59,000 people die every year from rabies in the world. Dogs play a vital role in most of the human exposure in rabies endemic areas. Transmission of virus occurs through the bite of an infected dog. Disease is manifested by fatal nervous symptoms leading to paralysis and death. Direct fluorescent antibody technique is the gold standard for the diagnosis of the disease in animals and humans. Prevention of rabies involves the vaccination of dogs and humans before or after an exposure. This review describes the etiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, its prevention and control strategies., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financialinterestsor personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To report summative data from the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Veterinary Committee on Trauma (VetCOT) registry., Design: Multi-institutional registry data report, April 1, 2017 to December 31, 2019., Setting: VetCOT identified and verified Veterinary Trauma Centers (VTCs)., Animals: Dogs and cats with evidence of trauma., Interventions: Data were input to a web-based data capture system (Research Electronic Data Capture) by data entry personnel trained in data software use and operational definitions of data variables. Data on demographics, trauma type, preadmission care, trauma severity assessment at presentation (modified Glasgow Coma Scale and Animal Trauma Triage score), key laboratory parameters, interventions, and case outcome were collected. Summary descriptive data for each species are reported., Measurements and Main Results: Thirty-one VTCs contributed data from 20,842 canine and 4003 feline trauma cases during the 33-month reporting period. Most cases presented directly to a VTC (82.1% dogs, 82.1% cats). Admission to hospital rates were slightly lower in dogs (27.8%) than cats (32.7%). Highest mortality rates by mechanism of injury in dogs were struck by vehicle (18.3%), ballistic injury (17.6%), injured inside vehicle (13.2%), nonpenetrating bite wound (10.2%), and choking/pulling injury (8.5%). Highest mortality rates by mechanism of injury in cats were struck by vehicle (43.3%), ejected from vehicle (33.3%), nonpenetrating bite wound (30.7%), ballistic injury (27.8%), and choking/pulling injury (25.0%). The proportion of animals surviving to discharge was 93.1% (dogs) and 82.5% (cats)., Conclusions: The VetCOT registry is a powerful resource for collection of a large dataset on trauma in dogs and cats seen at VTCs. Overall survival to discharge was high indicating low injury severity for most recorded cases. Further evaluation of data on subsets of injury types, patient assessment parameters, interventions, and associated outcome are warranted. Data from the registry can be leveraged to inform clinical trial design and justification for naturally occurring trauma as a translational model to improve veterinary and human trauma patient outcome., (© 2023 The Authors. Journal of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Society.)

Objective: To identify associations between admission variables, Animal Trauma Triage (ATT) score, and Modified Glasgow Coma Scale (MGCS) score with need for transfusion or surgical interventions and survival to discharge in cats with bite wounds., Animals: 1,065 cats with bite wounds., Procedures: Records of cats with bite wounds were obtained from the VetCOT registry from April 2017 to June 2021. Variables included point of care laboratory values, signalment, weight, illness severity scores, and surgical intervention. Associations between admission parameters, terciles of MGCS, quantiles of ATT scores, and death or euthanasia were assessed using univariable and multivariable logistic regression analysis., Results: 872 cats (82%) survived to discharge, while 170 (88%) were euthanized and 23(12%) died. In the multivariable model, age, weight, surgical treatment, ATT and MGCS scores were associated with nonsurvival. For every 1 year of age, odds of nonsurvival increased by 7% (P = .003) and for every 1 kg of body weight, odds of nonsurvival decreased by 14% (P = .005). Odds of dying increased with lower MGCS and higher ATT scores (MGCS: 104% [95% CI, 116% to 267%; P < .001]; ATT: 351% [95% CI, 321% to 632%; P < .001). Odds of dying decreased by 84% (P < .001) in cats that underwent surgery versus those that did not., Clinical Relevance: This multicenter study indicated association of higher ATT and lower MGCS with worse outcome. Older age increased the odds of nonsurvival, while each kilogram increase in bodyweight decreased odds of nonsurvival. To our knowledge, this study is the first to describe associations of age and weight with outcome in feline trauma patients.

Objective: To describe the clinical and epidemiologic features of persons with dog and cat bite injuries who presented to emergency departments., Sample: Records of 648,492 dog and cat bite-related emergency department visits in California from 2005 to 2019., Procedures: Visits were selected by standardized International Classification of Diseases, Ninth or Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification codes that indicated a bite as an external cause of injury in the medical record. Incidence rates were calculated for patient demographics, location and month of bite incident, characteristics of bite injury, infection, patient outcome/disposition, and expected source of payment. Cross-sectional descriptive analysis was performed., Results: The average annual incidence of dog bites was highest in children aged < 10 years and males, while that of cat bites was highest in adults aged ≥ 80 years and females. Bites were more likely to occur in rural settings, in private residences, and during the summer. The median household income for zip codes in which animal bite patients resided was lower than the statewide median household income. Both dog and cat bite injuries were more likely to occur to upper limbs. Bacteria were isolated from 3% of dog bite injuries and 21.5% of cat bite injuries at initial presentation., Clinical Relevance: Epidemiologic findings about persons presenting to emergency departments for animal bite injuries can inform bite prevention efforts by identifying at-risk populations. Effective animal bite prevention demands an ongoing multisectoral program of veterinarians and other health professionals, collaborating with community and governmental organizations, to develop and implement integrated strategies within the context of other socially contributory factors.

Animal rabies cases have increased steadily in South Carolina (SC) for the past decade. An understanding of the population's awareness and understanding of the disease is needed to tailor public health interventions. A marketing list-serv of SC residents' email addresses was used to recruit anonymous respondents for a Knowledge Attitudes and Practices (KAP) electronic survey. A total 516 South Carolinians completed the 31-question survey. Quantile regression and a Pearson's correlation evaluated potential associations between respondent's rabies knowledge and their attitudes and practices. Knowledge was assessed on topics of rabies biology, state animal case counts and rabies pet-related laws. Level of concern and level of knowledge were positively correlated. Additionally, statewide hotspot analysis revealed geographic areas warranting targeted public health interventions; counties with low public concern juxtapositioned with high animal rabies case counts. This study demonstrates the utility of statewide KAPs to gauge populations rabies perception and related preventative actions to tailor appropriate educational programs to limit human-animal rabies exposures., (© 2022 The Authors. Zoonoses and Public Health published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Canine infections with Leishmania ( L. ) infantum are gaining significance in Germany due to rising numbers of dogs imported from endemic countries, frequent travel and changing of climatic conditions in Central Europe. Dogs without any clinical signs suspicious for vector-borne infections imported from other countries to Germany should be tested immediately after import and 6 months later. In dogs with clinical signs suspicious for leishmaniosis, direct and indirect detection methods of the pathogen as well as hematology, biochemistry, serum protein electrophoresis and C-reactive protein are recommended. For treatment and monitoring of canine leishmaniosis, the LeishVet-guidelines are highly recommended. Different therapeutic options include first-line , second-line , and third-line drugs. For dose adjustments of allopurinol, the "step plan" should be taken in consideration. Due to climatic changes, habitats of sandflies as transmitting vectors of leishmaniosis are expanding. Next to vectorial transmission mating, transplacental infections, bite wounds, and blood transfusions were described in canine leishmaniosis. Additionally, L. infantum is a zoonotic vector-borne infectious pathogen, which is important regarding the "One-health"-aspect., Competing Interests: Die Autoren erklären, dass kein Interessenkonflikt besteht., (The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).)

Rabies is one of the most important zoonoses resulting in a high case fatality rate in humans. Most of the human Rabies cases are due to dog bites which can be prevented by effective vaccination in dogs. Globally, epidemiological studies on understanding the seasonality and risk factors for occurrence in canines are limited. The present study aimed to understand the temporal pattern of Rabies occurrence in Chennai city of Tamil Nadu, India, and address the suggestive clinical signs for better clinical ante-mortem rabies diagnosis. Data of 598 suspected canine hippocampus brain smear samples with Seller's staining and/or FAT percent positivity of 71.57% (428/598) from March 2010 to February 2019 were included in this study. Cross-correlation between rabies cases and meteorological factors showed that maximum temperature (lag 15), morning relative humidity (lag 0 and lag 5) and evening relative humidity (lag 4) were significantly associated with rabies cases. Auto-Regressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model with exogenous variables (significant lags of meteorological variables) was used to fit the time series of canine Rabies in Chennai. In logistic regression analysis, the following risk factors were found to be playing a significant role in Rabies positivity viz., behavioural changes in dogs (P < 0.001), free-roaming, unprovoked biting, hyper salivation (P < 0.05), dog bite history and drop jaw (P < 0.01). Hence, the study results highlight the need for continuous surveillance of canine Rabies for devising and implementing future preventive strategies and is helpful to establish the above-identified risk factors as a criterion to help in clinical rabies diagnosis., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Two male cats were presented with penile part of urethra injury due to dog attacks to the perineum and genitalia area. Chronic wound around a remained penile part of urethra due to the dog bite and perineal area was evident due to urine irritation. The buccal mucosa was harvested and subsequently placed on the granulation tissue of the wound to reconstruct the urinary passage. The buccal mucosal graft completely attached to the skin and urethra without any complications. From the follow-up at 3 months, the cats were able to urinate normally and the skin irritation from urine was resolved. In summary, the buccal mucosa is a good graft source and is suitable for the reconstruction of the urinary passage in severe and complicated cases of penile part of urethra injury in male cats.

Inflammation and partial loss of the tail occur with high frequency in pigs and must be combated if animal welfare is to be improved. In this context, consideration of tail biting as sole explanation fails to go far enough. Inflammation and necrosis of the tail occur regularly even without the intervention of other pigs. The evidence of such alterations already at the time of birth, the clustered synchronous occurrence on different parts of the body such as the tail, ears, teats, claws, amongst others as well as the pathohistological evidence of blood vessel-associated changes advocate a primarily endogenous cause bearing a syndromic character even if the symptomatology interacts with environmental factors. Alterations may be observed in suckling and weaning piglets as well as in fatteners. Environmental improvement may lead to a significantly reduced symptomatology. At the same time, genetic effects of boar and sow have been demonstrated. This review article highlights all facets of the syndrome known to date and provides an insight into the key points of the pathogenesis. The awareness of a new clinical syndrome that must be distinguished from tail biting will afford a contribution to combating this entity and thus increasing animal welfare in swine., Competing Interests: Der Autor bestätigt, dass kein Interessenskonflikt besteht., (Thieme. All rights reserved.)

Background: Changes in host phenotype following parasite infection are often considered as host manipulation when they seem advantageous for the parasite. However, putative cases of host manipulation by parasites are rarely tested in field-realistic conditions. Infection-induced phenotypic change cannot be conclusively considered as host manipulation if no evidence shows that this trait is adaptive for the parasite in the wild. Plasmodium sp., the parasites causing malaria in vertebrates, are hypothesized to "manipulate" their host by making their odour more attractive to mosquitoes, their vector and final host. While this is fairly well supported by studies on mice and humans, studies focusing on avian malaria give contradictory results., Methods: In the present study, genotyped birds at different stages (uninfected, acute and chronic) of Plasmodium relictum infection were exposed, in a large outdoor aviary, to their natural vector, the mosquito Culex pipiens., Results: After genotyping the blood meals of more than 650 mosquitoes, we found that mosquitoes did not bite infected birds more than they bit them before infection, nor more than they bit uninfected hosts., Conclusions: Our study highlights the importance of testing ecological behaviours under natural conditions and suggests that different processes might be at play in mammals and birds regarding potential manipulation of attractiveness by malaria parasites., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Tail biting is a serious behavioural problem in modern pig production, causing impaired animal welfare and economic losses. In most countries, the detrimental effects of tail biting are counteracted by docking pigs tails. Finland is one of the few countries where tail docking in pigs is totally forbidden. The aim of this paper was to look in detail at features of pig production in Finland in order to try to understand how Finnish producers manage to rear non-docked pigs. The way pigs are housed and managed in Finland is influenced by both European and national legislation, but also by governmental subsidies, industry recommendations and voluntary initiatives. Several features of Finnish pig production might indeed have a preventive role regarding the tail biting risk: these include, among others, a comparably larger space allowance, partly slatted flooring, use of manipulable materials, a good animal health status and meal feeding from long troughs. In addition, Finnish producers are motivated to rear non-docked pigs, which is possibly one of the most important prerequisites for success. The experiences from Finland show that even though tail biting is still a challenge on some farms, in general, it is possible to rear non-docked pigs in intensive production. Potential positive side-effects of enhancing management and housing to facilitate the rearing of non-docked pigs include a good growth rate, a reduced need for antimicrobials and better animal welfare levels., (Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Dog-dog and dog-cat attacks can result in severe medical, financial, and emotional injury to pets and owners. The characteristics of dog-dog and dog-cat attack victims, the circumstances surrounding these attacks and the financial burden from veterinary visits is not reported in Australia. Medical records from 459 animals that were presented to the emergency service of four specialty hospitals in Melbourne, Australia in 2018 following a dog attack were assessed via univariate and multivariate methodologies with a retrospective case-control study design. Animals who had been attacked by a dog comprised 2.4% of the overall caseload at these four hospitals. Risk factors identified in dog-dog attack victims for presenting to a veterinary emergency hospital after being attacked were being cross-bred (OR = 1.4, p = 0.014, 95% CI = 1.07-1.84) and neutered (OR = 1.4, p = 0.035, 95% CI = 1.03-2.00). Being aged > 2-7years was protective (OR = 0.70, p = 0.010, CI = 0.48-0.88). Dogs from houses with a lower Socio-economic Indices for Areas score (SIEFA) were more likely to be attacked at home by a known attacker, compared to those from houses with a higher SIEFA score who were more likely to be attacked in public by a dog unknown to them (p = <0.001). Cats who presented following a dog attack had a 46.3% survival to discharge, compared to 91.8% in dogs (p < 0.001). Final cost of treatment for dogs and cats was similar (median AU $380 vs AU $360, respectively). Further research is needed to evaluate the population of dogs and cats attacked by dogs, to inform and direct public education campaigns aimed at reducing their incidence and overall burdens., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Tail biting and lesions are common problems in modern pig production. In 2008 tail docking to prevent tail biting was banned in Switzerland. Since then pigs have been raised with intact tails. This study aimed to assess the current prevalence of tail lesions at Swiss abattoirs and comparing abattoir data with farm-specific data regarding potential risk factors for tail lesions. Data collection was performed in repetitive cycles of two weeks at four abattoirs during all consecutive seasons of one year. Gender, tail length and the tail tip condition were evaluated among other parameters. During 32 weeks in total, 195 704 pigs from 6112 batches from 2510 herds were evaluated. Overall, 63,2 % of the animals included in the analysis were slaughtered with a complete tail (lowest tail length score [TLS]), whereas 36,8 % showed a partial or total loss of the tail. The condition of the tail tip (tail tip condition score [TTCS]) was judged as being intact in 63,0 %, as a healed lesion in 23,7 %, an acute lesion in 1,3 % and a chronic lesion in 12,0 % of all cases. Male animals had significantly higher values for TLS and TTCS than female animals (P ≤ 0,05). TLS values were significantly higher in winter than in spring and summer (P < 0,001). TTCS values were significantly higher in fall than in spring and summer. TLS and TTCS values differed significantly (P < 0,001) between the four abattoirs. Only few significant correlations were found between values of TLS and TTCS and farm-specific data. Recording tail lesions at abattoirs is an accurate method to investigate the prevalence of tail lesions in fattening pigs. However, to monitor animal welfare on herd level, this method is very labor intensive. Moreover, data on tail lesions collected at the abattoir cannot replace veterinary on-farm examination for risk factor identification.

The tail of pigs has been suggested as a welfare indicator as it can provide insight into a pig's behavioural and emotional states. Tail posture and motion have so far mainly been studied in the context of tail biting behaviour. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between pigs' natural behaviour and their tail posture and tail motion. This was studied in a free-range farm in which tail biting is absent. In total 214 pigs of different age categories were observed individually (sows, gilts, boars, and 6-month old pigs) or by group (6-month and 1-year old pigs) for their tail posture, tail motion and behaviour, using live observations and videos obtained by drone. Results showed that a fully curled tail occurred most during locomotion (P < 0.001); and an actively hanging tail occurred more during foraging (P < 0.001), excavation (P = 0.006), feeding (P = 0.017), receipt of agonistic behaviour (P = 0.036), and non-agonistic social interactions (P = 0.046). A fully curled tail (P < 0.001) and a half curled tail (P < 0.005) occurred least in the group of sows. Tail motion was infrequent (6.7% of observations), and involved mainly loosely wagging, which occurred more during locomotion (P = 0.006) and non-agonistic social interactions (P = 0.006). A higher temperature-humidity index increased the probability of half curled tails (P < 0.001) and loose wagging (P < 0.001), while reducing the probability of active (P < 0.001) and passive hanging tails (P = 0.013). These results provide insight into tail posture and tail motion in pigs under semi-natural conditions, showing especially that hanging tails are not primarily associated with tail biting, and that the use of tail postures for welfare assessment should be in consideration with the context in which the animals are kept., (Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Case Histories: Medical records of a veterinary hospital in Belgium were reviewed for dogs (n = 5) that presented between 2016 and 2019 with laryngeal paralysis secondary to bite wounds to the cervical region received while fighting with other dogs. The time elapsed between the trauma and presentation was from a few hours up to 5 days., Clinical Findings and Treatment: Bilateral laryngeal paralysis was identified in three dogs and unilateral laryngeal paralysis in two dogs via endoscopic assessment of laryngeal function. The primary concomitant lesions included tracheal injury in 3/5 dogs and oesophageal injury in 1/5 dogs. One dog with bilateral laryngeal paralysis was treated medically as no signs of dyspnoea were present. Surgical management was elected in 4/5 dogs based on evaluation of their clinical status and lesions revealed by endoscopic examination of upper gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts. Dogs underwent surgical procedures that were determined to be appropriate for treatment of the lesions identified on clinical examination, diagnostic imaging, and endoscopy. The cervical region was explored through a ventral midline approach in 2/4 cases, to close tracheal perforations. Temporary tracheostomy was performed in 2/4 cases. Procedures to correct brachycephalic airway obstructive syndrome were performed in 2/4 cases. Cricoarytenoid lateralisation was performed in 2/4 dogs. Dogs were hospitalised for 2-10 days and received antimicrobial therapy before surgery and for 2-3 weeks after surgery. Physical examination and respiratory function were normal in 3/5 dogs 4-6 months after discharge. Information regarding outcomes for two cases was obtained from the owners by telephone assessment 1-6 months after surgery. The owner of each dog reported the respiratory function to be excellent., Diagnosis: Uni- or bilateral, transient or permanent laryngeal paralysis with concomitant oesophageal, tracheal, or laryngeal lesions following cervical dog bite injuries diagnosed by endoscopic examination of upper gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts., Clinical Relevance: This case series describes the diagnosis and management of dogs with laryngeal paralysis secondary to cervical dog bite injuries. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first published report documenting bilateral laryngeal paralysis secondary to cervical dog bite injuries. Clinicians should be aware of this pathology and the importance of investigating laryngeal function in dogs presenting with cervical bites, particularly those with inspiratory dyspnoea. Upper airway and digestive endoscopy are recommended for complete assessment of cervical traumatic injuries.

Objectives: Bite wounds are a common cause of trauma in cats; nevertheless, large-scale studies of this trauma in cats are lacking. The aims of the present study were to characterise the clinical and clinicopathological findings in these cats, to assess the association of these variables and therapeutic measures with survival, and to assess the association between the animal trauma triage (ATT) score and severity of injuries score (SS) at presentation with survival., Methods: The medical records of cats presented to a veterinary teaching hospital and two large referral clinics were reviewed retrospectively., Results: The study included 72 cats diagnosed with canine bite wounds (with the dog attacks having been witnessed). Seventy-one percent of cats suffered multiple injuries, and there was a significant association between the number of injured body areas and survival, and between severity of injury and survival ( P  = 0.02 and P  = 0.012, respectively). The median ATT scores and SSs for non-survivors were significantly higher compared with survivors ( P <0.0001). There was a strong and significant correlation between ATT scores and SSs ( r  = 0.704, P  <0.0001). Total protein and albumin were significantly lower and alanine aminotransferase significantly higher in non-survivors compared with survivors ( P  ⩽0.032). Fifty percent of cats were treated conservatively, 32% by local surgical debridement and 18% of cats required an exploratory procedure. Cats undergoing more aggressive treatments were significantly less likely to survive ( P  = 0.029). Fifty-seven cats (79%) survived to discharge., Conclusions and Relevance: Cats sustaining canine bite wounds have a good overall prognosis for survival to discharge. High ATT score, high SS, multiple body area injuries, penetrating injuries, radiographic evidence of vertebral body fractures and body wall abnormalities, as well as hypoproteinaemia and elevated alanine aminotransferase, are negative predictors of survival.

Leech attachment is a common nuisance to outdoor recreationists and farmers in aquatic environments. Consequences include bleeding, infection, and, rarely, death. Methods to prevent leech attachment are anecdotal and individual; effective repellent formulations with universal applicability are needed. In this study, icaridin is demonstrated to be repellent and toxic to aquatic leech, and formulation of icaridin loading nitrocellulose (Icar-Nitr) is proposed as a new leech repellent. The nitrocellulose provided sustained drug release and waterproof properties. One optimal formulation, 10-Icar-Nitr, proved effective for leech repelling in aquatic environment. Using a rat model, the same formulation also showed removal and killing after leech attachment. The nitrocellulose reduced percutaneous absorption of icaridin, and 10-Icar-Nitr showed good biocompatibility. This study provides a potential new and practicable strategy for prevention and removal against leech attachment and bites.

Captive nonhuman primates frequently experience bite wounds inflicted by conspecifics; however, few studies evaluate wound management in these animals. This study evaluates bite wound management in 35 captive ring-tailed lemurs (RTL, Lemur catta ) held within five British zoological institutions between 2015 and 2019. Treatments for 152 bite incidents resulting in 211 bite wounds were summarized. Treatment efficacy and potential risk factors for bite wound complications were evaluated for correlations with outcomes. Treatments in the first 48 hours included analgesia alone (54/152; 35.5%); analgesia and antimicrobials (42/152; 27.6%); no treatment (26/152; 17.1%); analgesia, antimicrobials, and wound management under anesthesia (24/152; 15.8%); and antimicrobials alone (6/152; 3.9%). Poor outcomes were observed in RTL in association with 20.4% of wounds (43/211): signs of pain (SOP) after 48 hours were the most common (30/211; 14.2%), followed by signs of infection (SOI, 16/211; 7.6%), wound dehiscence (7/211; 3.3%), and abnormal function or behavior at day 30 (4/ 211; 1.9%). Poor outcomes were more likely with severe bite wounds and bite wounds to the hand or limb (thoracic or pelvic, excluding the hand or foot). Specifically, SOP were more likely to be observed with severe wounds and solitary wounds, and SOI were more likely to be observed with wounds not treated with early antimicrobials. When SOI occurred, most resolved with antimicrobial treatment alone. Early analgesia is recommended for RTL with bite wounds. If SOP persist, multimodal analgesia should be administered. Clinicians should consider withholding antimicrobials for RTL with bite wounds of mild and moderate severity until SOI are observed.

Outbreaks of human rabies transmitted by hematophagous bats occurred in 2018 in Pará state, Brazil, eastern Amazon, after 12 years of no record of the disease. Thus, it is necessary to understand the epidemiological characteristics of these attacks to protect the local population. This study aimed to characterize the bat bite populations in the municipality of São João da Ponta, Pará State, Brazil, in 2013-2015. The Notifiable Diseases Information System (SINAN) database was used to identify the five individuals who sought medical care during the study period (seeds). Other individuals who were attacked during the same period but did not seek medical care (n = 61) were reached by snowball sampling, and a descriptive analysis was performed based on information obtained from questionnaires. Majority of the interviewees were men (92.4%; 61/66) and adults aged 20-50 years (69.9%; 46/66) and had <4 years of formal school education (86.3%; 57/66). Additionally, most of them were rural residents (92.4%; 61/66) and crab fishermen (79.3%; 53/66). The interviewees (92.4%; 61/66) identified mangroves of the Mãe Grande de Curuçá extractive reserve, where groups of fishermen sometimes gather for several days for crab fishing, often living in improvised dwellings without walls and covered by tarps or straw (88.8%; 56/66), conducive to attacks by vampire bats. Overall, 42.4% (28/66) of the participants had been bitten more than four times throughout their life. The median number of attacks over the participant's lifetime was 3.11 (range, 1-23). Participants were unaware of the risk of contracting rabies from the bite (95.4%; 65/66). These results suggest that vampire bat attacks are essentially an occupational hazard in the study region. Moreover, for each reported attack, there were at least 12.2 unreported cases. Thus, the study highlights the need to develop strategies for prophylactic treatment of this population., (© 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Tail biting is an abnormal behaviour that causes stress, injury and pain. Given the critical role of the gut-microbiota in the development of behavioural problems in humans and animals, the aim of this study was to determine whether pigs that are biters, victims of tail biting or controls (nine matched sets of pigs) have a different microbiota composition, diversity and microbial metabolite profile. We collected faecal and blood samples from each individual for analysis. The gut microbiota composition was most different between the biter and the control pigs, with a higher relative abundance of Firmicutes in tail biter pigs than the controls. Furthermore, we detected differences in faecal and plasma short chain fatty acids (SCFA) profiles between the biter and victim pigs, suggesting physiological differences even though they are kept in the same pen. Thus, in addition to supporting an association between the gut microbiota and tail biting in pigs, this study also provides the first evidence of an association between tail biting and SCFA. Therefore, further research is needed to confirm these associations, to determine causality and to study how the SCFA profiles of an individual play a role in the development of tail biting behaviour., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

This research contributes to extant knowledge about dog bites by using police department bite incident data to explore three sets of potential correlates of bites: traits of the victim, traits of the dog including the circumstances surrounding the bite, and traits of the neighborhood in which the bite occurred. It employs data on 478 bites, over a period of 8 years, in an urban setting that includes significant numbers of roaming dogs (both feral and owned), and incorporates a number of variables not included in past research. While environmental variables such as structural abandonment contribute to dog bite risk human error is most commonly at fault.

Peer-reviewed scientific publications on the topic of dog bites are numerous. Montreal was one of the first municipalities in the province of Quebec to require mandatory assessment of aggressive dogs by veterinarians. In 2019, dogs reported as aggressive and considered a potential risk to public safety by city officials were scheduled for a mandatory behavioral assessment by a veterinarian. For the purpose of this study, only aggressive dogs that had bitten (N = 65) were included. The goals were to better describe the aggressive behavior of these dogs (behavioral sequence, type of aggression, and overall reactivity) and perhaps identify new possible risk factors related to severity of injury and dangerousness. The number of signs of increased arousal/reactivity was positively and significantly associated with the injury severity score. Dangerousness increased with size of dogs. Entire males were most dangerous despite absence of recognizable differences in body weight between neutered and unneutered males., (Copyright and/or publishing rights held by the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association.)

Understanding domestic dog population dynamics and ecology is crucial to any effective rabies control program. This study was conducted as part of the baseline epidemiological studies necessary for the establishment of the Kwara Rabies Rapid Alert System "KRRAS". This study aimed to determine the dog population structure of Kwara State by assessing the dog ownership, vaccination status, and prevalence of dog bites. A total of 1460 questionnaires were administered to respondents in the three senatorial zones of the state using Open Data Kit (ODK) between June 2019 to January 2020. Of the 1460 households surveyed, 293 (20.1 %) owned at least one dog with an average of 2.25 dogs per household. The male to female ratio was 1.9:1 and 79.3 % (n = 523/659) of the owned dogs were local breeds. A total of 785 dogs was enumerated (659 dogs from 293 households and 126 free-roaming dogs) and 7811 persons which resulted in a dog-human ratio of 1:9.95. The estimated dog population is 376,789 (95 % CI: 343,700 - 379,878). Only 31 % (n = 204/659) of households vaccinated their dogs against rabies. The prevalence of dog-bite was 13 % (n = 193/1460) of which only 27 % of the victims (n = 61/225) received post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). Dog ownership was significantly impacted by the ethnicity of respondents. Hausa (OR: 3.76; 95 % CI: 1.15-12.4; p < 0.001) and Nupe (OR: 4.48; 95 % CI: 1.77-11.33; p < 0.001) respondents owned dogs than Yoruba respondents. The rabies vaccination status of owned dogs was significantly impacted by the level of education (OR: 5.03; 95 % CI: 1.50-16.83; p < 0.001); history of previous dog bite incidents (OR: 1.74; 95 % CI: 0.95-3.17; p < 0.001); the breed of the dog with exotic dogs being more vaccinated (OR: 2.79: 95 % 0.64-12.05; p < 0.001). Similarly, Male dogs (OR: 1.49, 95 % 1.03-2.86; p < 0.001) and partially confined dogs (OR: 1.09, 95 % 0.45-2.11, p < 0.001) were found to be vaccinated against rabies. The results of the study showed low dog vaccination coverage, and high number of free roaming dogs. Hence, a threat to public health. The low dog vaccination coverage is below the 70-80 % target recommended for herd immunity by the World Health Organization., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Rabies is endemic in Bangladesh. To identify risk factors, a case-control study was conducted based on hospital-reported rabid animal bite (RAB) cases in domestic ruminants, 2009 - 2018. RAB cases (n = 449) and three controls per case were selected. Dogs (87.8%) and jackals (12.2%) were most often identified as biting animals. In the final multivariable model, the risk of being a RAB case was significantly higher in cattle aged >0.5-2 years (odds ratio (OR) 2.89; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.56-5.37), >2-5 years (OR 3.63; 95% CI: 1.97-6.67) and >5 years (OR 6.42; 95% CI: 3.39-12.17) compared to those aged <0.5 years. Crossbred cattle were at higher risk of being a RAB case (OR 5.48; 95% CI: 3.56-8.42) than indigenous. Similarly, female cattle were more likely to be a RAB case (OR 1.26; 95% CI: 1.15-2.29) than males. Cattle in rural areas (OR 39.48; 95% CI: 6.14-254.00) were at a much higher risk of being RAB cases than those in urban areas. Female, crossbred and older cattle, especially in rural areas should either be managed indoors during the dog breeding season (September and October) or vaccinated. A national rabies elimination program should prioritise rural dogs for mass vaccination. Jackals should also be immunised using oral bait vaccines. Prevention of rabies in rural dogs and jackals would also reduce rabies incidence in humans.

Background: Reports have shown correlations between the immune response to vector saliva and Leishmaniasis outcome. We followed dogs in an endemic area for two years characterizing resistance or susceptibility to canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL) according to Leishmania infantum diagnosis and clinical development criteria. Then, we aimed to identify a biosignature based on parasite load, serum biological mediators' interactions, and vector exposure intensity associated with CVL resistance and susceptibility., Methodology/principal Findings: A prospective two-year study was conducted in an area endemic for CVL. Dogs were evaluated at 6-month intervals to determine infection, clinical manifestations, immune profile, and sandfly exposure. CVL resistance or susceptibility was determined upon the conclusion of the study. After two years, 78% of the dogs were infected with L. infantum (53% susceptible and 47% resistant to CVL). Susceptible dogs presented higher splenic parasite load as well as persistence of the parasite during the follow-up, compared to resistant ones. Susceptible dogs also displayed a higher number of correlations among the investigated biological mediators, before and after infection diagnosis. At baseline, anti-saliva antibodies, indicative of exposure to the vector, were detected in 62% of the dogs, reaching 100% in one year. Higher sandfly exposure increased the risk of susceptibility to CVL by 1.6 times (CI: 1.11-2.41). We identified a discriminatory biosignature between the resistant and susceptible dogs assessing splenic parasite load, interaction of biological mediators, PGE2 serum levels and intensity of exposure to sandfly. All these parameters were elevated in susceptible dogs compared to resistant animals., Conclusions/significance: The biosignature identified in our study reinforces the idea that CVL is a complex multifactorial disease that is affected by a set of factors which are correlated and, for a better understanding of CVL, should not be evaluated in an isolated way., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

In February 2017 and August 2018, respectively, two Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii) reintroduced into the Bukit Batikap Protection Forest in Central Kalimantan were found in weakened physical condition and with deep puncture wounds. The first individual was a sub-adult male, and the second an adult female whose 6- to 8-week-old infant was missing. Both individuals were rescued and transported back to the field base camp for treatment. Experienced veterinarians treating the injuries reported that the type of wounds appeared consistent with those expected from an attack by a large felid. The Sunda clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi) is the largest felid known to inhabit Bukit Batikap Protection Forest, and we suspect that these cases were unsuccessful predatory attacks by this species. Given the severity of his condition when found, the male orangutan would probably have died without medical intervention; however, both orangutans fully recovered following intensive treatment and were successfully returned to the forest. Predation attempts on orangutans are infrequently reported, thus our observations add to the body of knowledge about possible predation by clouded leopards on reintroduced, rehabilitant orangutans.

Background: Trauma from dog attacks has been associated with mortality rates as high as 23% in some species. However, the prognosis and clinical features of this type of injury have not been described in equids., Hypotheses/objectives: To describe survival rate, signalment, clinical features, and biochemical results in equids presented for emergency care after presumed dog attacks. We hypothesized there would be differences between survivors and nonsurvivors., Animals: A total of 28 equids presented for presumed dog attacks from 3 referral centers., Methods: A retrospective study was performed using data from 3 hospitals between 2008 and 2016. Survival was defined as survival at 14 days postdischarge. Variables were compared between survivors and nonsurvivors using a t test, Mann-Whitney U test, or Fisher's exact test as appropriate., Results: Overall mortality rate was 21%. Ponies and miniature horses represented 16/28 (57%) of the animals in the study. Full-sized equids had a lower risk of nonsurvival as compared to smaller patients (odds ratio = 0.02; 95% confidence intervals = 0.00-0.27; P < .005). Animals with lower body temperatures had increased risk for nonsurvival (P = .0004). Increased admission blood lactate concentrations (P = .003) and decreased serum total protein concentrations (P = .006) were associated with nonsurvival., Conclusions: The mortality rate in equids attacked by dogs was similar to what is reported for other veterinary species. Smaller equids and those with increased admission blood lactate concentration, lower body temperature, and lower total serum protein concentrations were less likely to survive., (© 2020 The Authors. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. on behalf of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.)

Introduction: Tail lesions caused by tail biting are a major welfare and economic concern in fattening pigs. The aims of this study were to describe the prevalence and incidence of tail lesions in undocked pigs on individual animal level during the fattening period, to elucidate potential risk factors associated with tail lesions, and to describe the stockpersons' attitudes towards tail biting on Swiss farms. Thirty-eight farms were visited three times during the fattening period (beginning, mid-point, end). During each farm visit, tail lesions were scored on 30-126 individually marked pigs per farm (total: 2209 pigs), information on potential risk factors for tail lesions was recorded, and a standardized interview with the farmer was conducted to explore his/her opinion on tail biting. Potential risk factors were defined by indices when adequate, and their influence on the occurrence of tail lesions was analyzed using mixed effects logistic regression models. During the first and the second half of the fattening period, on average 14,1 and 15,4 pigs, respectively, out of 100 developed new tail lesions or aggravation of old lesions. The risk for new or aggravated tail lesions increased with higher scores for a «disease index» and with increasing group size, and it decreased with higher space allowances and with restrictive compared with ad libitum feeding. The prevalence of tail lesions on arrival was not associated with the incidence of tail lesions in the first and the second half of the fattening period, neither at farm level nor at pen level. In the interviews, farmers expressed their interest in getting professional advice on how to reduce tail biting on their farms. In conclusion, our study identified several risk factors for tail lesions in undocked fattening pigs indicating that the incidence of tail lesions could be reduced by improving animal health and housing conditions.

Tail biting is an abnormal behaviour in pigs, and remains an economic and welfare problem in modern pig production. Reasons for performing tail-biting behaviour are of multifactorial origin, and are often related to the current environment or internal characteristics of pigs. The objective of the present study was to identify early life risk factors connected to tail damage in non-docked pigs in a commercial Danish piggery, and to further compare the effects of cumulative cross-life experience throughout the early rearing. In an observational study, 741 piglets from 51 sows born in six batches were individually marked at birth and followed until nine weeks of age. Litter related variables and individual piglet characteristics were collected during lactation. The pigs' performance parameters were recorded from birth to nine weeks of age. The association between putative risk factors and tail damage assessed at different stages during lactation and rearing was analysed using multinomial mixed regression models. Prior to weaning, the odds of having tail damage were higher for piglets originating from litters with a high birth weight variation (P = 0.012) and for piglets that were heavier at weaning (P < 0.001). Piglets born to an aggressive sow had 2.7-fold increased odds of having tail damage (P = 0.003), while piglets of sows treated after farrowing had a lower odds (P = 0.015). Post-weaning, the most significant risk factor(s) associated with tail damage was the previous tail status of the pigs. Pigs with bite marks/ scratches in previous assessments had an on average 4-fold and pigs with a tail wound 11-fold increased odds of having tail damage during subsequent assessments. Similarly, pigs with a tail wound pre-weaning had 7-times higher odds of having tail damage at the end of rearing (P = 0.033). Pigs in groups with a higher weight variation (P = 0.030) and pigs with a greater weight gain (P < 0.001) had higher odds of having tail damage at the end of rearing. There was an increased chance of having tail damage post-weaning for piglets that were cross-fostered (P = 0.032) or that had a clinical impairment (P = 0.047) during lactation. Females generally had a lower chance of having tail damage compared to castrated males. Early life risk factors were especially associated with tail damage in pigs pre-weaning. However, the results of this study suggest that early life risk factors are secondary to the previous tail status of pigs as risk factors for later tail damage., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This study evaluated the effectiveness of combined dietary and enrichment strategies to manage tail biting in pigs with intact tails in a conventional fully-slatted floor housing system. A 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design was used. Pigs had either a high fibre (weaner 5.3% and finisher 11.6% of crude fibre) or standard fibre diet (weaner 3.7% and finisher 5.9% of crude fibre). In the weaner stage, pigs had either a spruce wooden post (supplied in a wall-mounted dispenser) or a rubber floor toy as a enrichment device, and in the finisher stage, they had either the same or alternate enrichment item. Six hundred and seventy-two pigs were assigned to 48 pens of 14 pigs and followed from weaning until slaughter. Individual tail lesion scores and pen level behaviours were directly recorded every 2 weeks. Twenty-six pens had tail biting outbreaks and 161 injured pigs needed removal for treatment. Pigs fed with the high fibre diet performed more tail biting (p < 0.05) and tended to have a worse tail damage scores than those fed the standard fibre diet (p = 0.08). Pigs which had the floor toy as weaners and wood as finishers tended to have fewer tail lesions in the finisher stage than their counterparts (p = 0.06). Pigs receiving the floor toy as enrichment interacted with the enrichment more frequently overall (p < 0.001) and performed fewer harmful behaviours in the weaner stage (p < 0.05). Overall, higher fibre in the diet in a relatively barren environment did not help reduce tail biting or tail lesions. Altering the fibre level in the pigs' diet and providing a single enrichment device to undocked pigs on fully slatted floors resulted in a high level of tail biting and a large proportion of pigs with partial tail amputation., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

A global strategic plan for the elimination of dog-mediated human rabies deaths by 2030 was announced in 2018. The cost-effectiveness of annual mass dog vaccination programmes, as a control and elimination method, has been advocated on many occasions. Complementary methods, such as animal birth control (ABC) activities, have received less attention. This paper provides a case-study of a programme operated by Help in Suffering (HIS) in Jaipur, India from 1994/95 until 2016/17 comprising both ABC and additional vaccination-only activities. The availability of cost data alongside information on dog numbers, dog bites and human rabies cases provided an exceptionally detailed and unique retrospective dataset recording actual events and expenditures. Updated to 2016/17 prices, the total cost of the programme was 658,744 USD. Since 2007/2008, activity costs have been separated and returned costs of 10.78 USD per dog, both sterilised and vaccinated, and 1.86 USD per dog, vaccinated only. Over the course of the programme, the number of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) due to premature death and the distress associated with dog bites was estimated to be 36,246 fewer than would have been expected if HIS had not been operating, based on a counterfactual scenario using pre-intervention values. Linking the DALY figure to the cost of the activities undertaken by HIS yields a cost of 26 USD per DALY averted. Discounted at 3%, the DALYs averted equate to 16,587 at a cost of 40 USD per DALY averted. Both cases make it a very cost-effective intervention, in relation to the threshold of investing one year's gross domestic product (GDP) per DALY averted (1981 USD in 2016/17). The monetary benefit from fewer dog bites and clinical human rabies cases requiring treatment amounted to 5.62 million USD after discounting, which, if attributed to Help in Suffering, yields a monetary benefit-cost ratio of 8.5. Thus, the potential monetary benefits greatly outweigh the programme costs, even without considering the DALYs averted. If a modest notional monetary value of one year's GDP is assigned to represent the human capital or production value of DALYs averted, the discounted societal economic benefit reaches 38.48 million USD and implies a benefit-cost ratio of 58.4. These economic analyses demonstrate that ABC activities in combination with additional vaccination efforts can be a cost-effective control measure for dog-mediated human rabies., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Investigating the cause of animal death is helpful to understand the reasons behind the interactions and conflicts between humans and animals. To further develop the cause of death investigation, we report a case of a Chinese spot-billed duck (Anas zonorhyncha) which hatched from a rescued duck and died 10 days after release. We inspected the duck's cause of death using an interview of concerned people, external body examination, necropsy, and genetic examinations. Based on the fractures, the main cause of death was determined to be a traffic accident. Furthermore, molecular tests helped to detect raccoon DNA in the visible bite wounds. This case shows that molecular biological method is one of the methods of clarify the animals' cause of death.

Tail biting is a welfare and economical concern in modern pig production. One common preventive measure used throughout the world is tail docking, which is generally considered one of the most effective methods for limiting tail biting. However, tail docking is a painful mutilation and systematic tail docking is not allowed in the EU. Therefore, the aim was to compare pig behaviour and the prevalence of tail biting in finishing pigs with intact tails housed in two different pen designs under Danish commercial conditions. PEN1 was a traditional Danish pen and PEN2 was inspired by Swedish finisher pen design and had a larger proportion of solid floor area (PEN1: 1/3 and PEN2: 2/3), reduced group size (PEN1: 15 and PEN2: 12), increased space allowance per head (PEN1: 0.7 m2 and PEN2: 0.89 m2) and straw allocated on the floor (PEN2) whereas straw was provided in a straw rack in PEN1. Tail damage observations were carried out daily by the stockperson and every 2 weeks one trained research technician assessed tail damages according to a tail scoring system. Tail lesions were observed in 51% of PEN1 and in 11% of PEN2 (P < 0.001). PEN1 had higher prevalence of tail damages than PEN2 (23% v. 5%, P < 0.001). Behavioural observations were carried out by the use of video recordings. Pigs in PEN2 tended to spend more time on tail-directed behaviour than pigs in PEN1 (P = 0.07), whereas pigs in PEN1 tended to spend more time on ear-directed behaviour (P = 0.08). Pigs in PEN2 spent more time on straw-directed behaviour compared to pigs in PEN1 (P < 0.001). Pen design did not affect time spent on other penmate-directed behaviour. In addition, the level of welfare between the two pen designs was compared using the Welfare Quality® protocol. PEN2 received an overall score of 'excellent' while PEN1 scored 'enhanced'. PEN2 scored higher on all principles besides 'good health', where PEN1 scored better on lameness and wounds. The main measurements accounting for the differences were water supply, huddling, tail biting, social behaviour and fear of humans. In conclusion, the combination of increased space allowance, increased area of solid flooring, straw allocated onto the floor and reduced group size (PEN2) resulted in fewer tail damaged pigs and a better overall welfare assessment, despite a tendency for more tail-directed behaviour.

Objective: To describe the clinical presentation and outcome of a dog with primary hypoparathyroidism secondary to cervical bite wounds., Case Summary: A 3-year-old male intact Chihuahua presented after being attacked by a large breed dog. The dog sustained severe cervical lacerations, exposing the trachea and jugular veins. A portion of the right thyroid gland was missing. The dog was stabilized before wound debridement and closure. Ionized calcium concentrations were within reference range at the time of presentation. Forty-eight hours after the initial trauma, the dog was presented in lateral recumbency with signs of hypovolemic shock, muscle tremors, and hyperthermia. Bloodwork showed severe ionized hypocalcemia with low normal parathyroid hormone concentration consistent with acute primary hypoparathyroidism. The dog was managed initially with IV calcium gluconate and calcitriol, then long-term oral calcium carbonate and vitamin D3. After 6 months, the dog was successfully weaned off calcium supplementation., New or Unique Information Provided: This is the first described case of traumatic primary hypoparathyroidism after a bite injury to the neck in a dog., (© Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Society 2020.)

Objective: To report the clinical, radiographic, and surgical findings and determine prognostic factors for outcome in dogs with thoracic dog bite wounds., Study Design: Retrospective study., Animals: Client-owned dogs (n = 123)., Methods: Medical records of dogs with thoracic dog bite wounds between October 2003 to July 2016 were reviewed for presenting findings, management, and outcomes. Standard wound management included debridement and sterile probing, extending the level of exploration to the depth of the wound. Univariable and multivariable binary logistic regression were used to assess risk factors for exploratory thoracotomy, lung lobectomy, and mortality., Results: Twenty-five dogs underwent exploratory thoracotomy, including lung lobectomy in 12 of these dogs. Presence of pneumothorax (odds ratio [OR] 25.4, confidence interval (CI) 5.2-123.2, P < .001), pseudo-flail chest (OR 15.8, CI 3.2-77.3, P = .001), or rib fracture (OR 11.2, CI 2.5-51.2, P = .002) was associated with increased odds of undergoing exploratory thoracotomy. Presence of pleural effusion (OR 12.1, CI 1.2-120.2, P = .033) and obtaining a positive bacterial culture (OR 23.4, CI 1.6-337.9, P = .021) were associated with increased odds of mortality. The level of wound management correlated with the length of hospitalization (Spearman rank order correlation = 0.52, P < .001) but was not associated with mortality., Conclusion: Dogs that sustained pseudo-flail chest, rib fracture, or pneumothorax were more likely to undergo exploratory thoracotomy. Nonsurvival was more likely in dogs with pleural effusion or positive bacterial culture., Clinical Significance: Presence of pseudo-flail, rib fracture, or pneumothorax should raise suspicion of intrathoracic injury. Strong consideration should be given to radiography, surgical exploration, and debridement of all thoracic dog bite wounds., (© 2020 The American College of Veterinary Surgeons.)

Background: Thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) plays a key role in the development of allergic inflammation. Little is known about possible triggers of equine TSLP expression., Hypothesis/objectives: To investigate TSLP expression in equine insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH) skin lesions. The capacity of TLR 1-8 ligands (L) and of atopic cytokine milieu as potential triggers of TSLP and of interleukin (IL)-6 as a downstream effector molecule of TLR signalling, were examined in primary equine keratinocyte cultures., Animals: Lesional skin from IBH-affected and healthy skin from control-horses (n = 9 each group) was sampled., Methods and Materials: Keratinocyte cultures were established from six healthy horses and stimulated with TLR 1-8-L, and with IL-4 and tumor necrosis factor-α, to mimic an atopic inflammation cytokine milieu. TSLP and IL-6 gene expression was assessed by quantitative real-time PCR., Results: Expression of TSLP was significantly greater in IBH lesions compared to healthy skin. TLR 1-8-L significantly upregulated TSLP expression in keratinocytes. The strongest upregulation was induced by TLR 1/2-L and TLR 3-L. Combination of atopic cytokine milieu and TLR 1/2-L or TLR 3-L further increased TSLP expression. TLR-L 1-5 stimulation significantly upregulated IL-6 expression., Conclusions and Clinical Importance: The data herein suggest that the upregulation of TSLP expression in lesional skin of IBH-affected horses might play a role in IBH development. Moreover, TSLP expression is induced by TLR-L, in particular by TLR 1/2-L and TLR 3-L, and is further increased by atopic cytokine milieu, indicating a mechanism for TSLP-mediated exacerbation of IBH., (© 2019 The Authors. Veterinary Dermatology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of the ESVD and ACVD.)

Background: Non-human primates (NHPs) are susceptible to dogs' attacks, events that may cause muscle damage along with stress, and could be in some extent compatible with capture myopathy, a syndrome that results in myoglobinuria and renal damage., Methods: We aimed to evaluate by histopathology pre-existing lesions and subsequent sequelae related to dogs' attacks, acute tubular necrosis (ATN) and myoglobinuria, as well as the usefulness of Pearls Stain and IHC to diagnose it. Histopathology was performed in available organs, and sections of kidney submitted to Prussian blue stain and myoglobin immunohistochemistry., Results: During January 2014-June 2016, 16/145 (11%) of NHPs received by Adolfo Lutz Institute, Brazil were reported as attacked by dogs. A high frequency of young and debilitated animals was found. Myoglobinuria was observed in more than half animals (9/16; 56.2%), from which (5/9; 55.5%) presented ATN., Conclusions: Kidney lesions are plausible findings in NHPs attacked by dogs., (© 2019 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have generated a great amount of interest over the past decade as a novel therapeutic treatment for a variety of diseases. Emerging studies have indicated that MSCs could enhance the repair of injured skin in canine cutaneous wounds., Case Presentation: A healthy 2 years old Bodeguero Andaluz dog was presented with multiple skin bite wounds. Antibiotic and anti-inflammatory therapy was administered for 8 days. On day three, 10 7 allogeneic adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ASCs) were intradermally injected approximately equidistant to the ASCs treated wounds. Control wounds underwent conventional treatment with a topical antibacterial ointment until wound healing and closure. Wounds, skin morphology and healing progress were monitored via serial photographs and histopathology of biopsies obtained at day seven after ASC treatment. Histopathology revealed absence of inflammatory infiltrates and presence of multiple hair follicles in contrast to the non-ASCs treated control wounds indicating that ASC treatment promoted epidermal and dermal regeneration. ASCs were identified by flow cytometry and RT-PCR. The immunomodulatory role of ASCs was evidenced by coculturing peripheral blood mononuclear cells with allogeneic ASCs. Phytohemagglutinin was administered to stimulate lymphocyte proliferation. Cells were harvested and stained with an anticanine CD3-FITC antibody. The ASCs inhibited proliferation of T lymphocytes, which was quantified by reduction of carboxyfluorescein succinimidyl ester intensity using flow cytometry., Conclusions: Compared with conventional treatment, wounds treated with ASCs showed a higher regenerative capacity with earlier and faster closure in this dog.